Land of the Mighty Cornhuskers

This past weekend, we took a little trip up to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, to visit my grandma, “Honey.” We had such a wonderful time, though the trip did go extremely quickly! I wish we could have stayed much longer.

Honey certainly kept us busy!

Ryan had never been to the Riverside Zoo, though Ryley and I have been twice before. So that was our first stop:

I would just like to go on record as saying that Honey and I stayed true to form and did NOT touch or feed any animals while we were there.

 

It was slightly chilly, so we pretty much had the whole zoo to ourselves!

Then we ate lunch at my favorite Scottsbluff restaurant, Taco Town. They’re the “tac-0 the town.” Seriously. My family has eaten there every time we’ve visited Scottsbluff since before I was born, I think. Yum!

http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Overview/5172/taco-town

Then, after lunch, Honey took us to the North Platte Valley Museum. Scottsbluff/Gering is right on the Oregon Trail, so there are a lot of interesting pioneer artifacts:

We had fun seeing all the weaving looms and ice boxes, etc., from the past. Honey shared lots of stories from her childhood.

 

The museum had a big display of Girl Scout history, so we browsed through that. Very interesting! Here, Ryley tries out Morse Code:

Any Brownies out there from 1985? This is a replica of my Brownie uniform:

And my Brownie book:

Funny how the brain works….I haven’t seen this book in 26 years, yet the moment I saw it, it all came rushing back to me. :-)

The museum was a great experience! Thanks for taking us there, Honey!!!

Then, because Ryan had never been to the top of Scottsbluff Monument (an Oregon Trail landmark), we drove up there, too:

Playing with fire:

You can’t really see it very well, but 30 miles behind my head is Chimney Rock and the town of Bayard, where Grandpa and Honey farmed and ranched for more than 50 years. Honey still owns the land. We used to spend our summer vacations there, picking sweet corn with Grandpa and helping him shuck it, helping Honey in her garden, learning to sew, riding 4-wheelers around the hills, and swimming in ditch banks alongside the cows. Lots of good memories. :-)

Then, crazy kids that we are, we hiked down the monument, while Honey drove to the bottom to pick us up. It took us about 45 minutes.

I fell behind a lot. :-)

Amber waves of beautiful Nebraska:

We had dinner with my aunt and uncle and attended church with Honey on Sunday morning before heading back to Denver. It was just a really nice , peaceful, fun couple of days.

Thank you, Honey, for letting us come up and crash your weekend! You wore us out in the very best way! We love you! :-)